Do you have a license for that snake?

If you own a constrictor, black mamba or cobra — or plan to acquire one — Rep. Harvey Hilderbran’s House Bill 1309 could affect your life.

Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, wants to require people to get a state permit to own snakes not indigenous to Texas. He wants to prevent “a future feral exotic snake population,” notes his press release, which notes, ” The bill does not make it illegal to own a non-indigenous snake.”

Well, whew.

Hilderbran is touting the bill the same week reporters got an email from a top Democratic consultant gleefully calling attention to a Florida incident in which reporters panicked when a snake was loosed in the press box.

The suggestion was made that this might be just what’s needed to liven up the Senate press table.